by Van Powell
CHAPTER II THE MYSTERY BOYS ADD A MEMBER
As Cliff came up the steps with his Peruvian letter both strangers actedtogether; each made a grab. Cliff stopped.
"Look here!" he challenged, "You wait until I open this!"
He put the letter behind him. They saw that on the steps he was in aposition to turn and elude them. Retreating a step the Spaniard noddedand the Indian stood aside, his arms folded. Tom and Nicky were alreadybeside Cliff, ready to help him.
Flanking him they accompanied him as he mounted to the porch and facedthe men. The chums formed a tableau; it might have been called "Unitedwe stand."
But they held the pose for only an instant! As they passed him theIndian, with catlike agility, moved back and then stepped down to thepoint Cliff had just vacated. He, then, was on the steps. They saw thatthey had lost a point of strategic advantage for the Indian blocked theway of escape to the yard.
Cliff, about to strip open the letter, paused.
"What are you trying to do?" he demanded.
He discovered the answer at once. The Spaniard made a spring towardCliff, hand reaching, fingers clutching at the letter. The Indian openedhis arms to block any leap toward the steps and Cliff saw that he wasalmost trapped. But not quite!
Nicky stuck out a foot to trip the springing man. Tom made a tackle butthe Spaniard swerved. That swerve enabled Cliff to snatch away theletter. Like a shot Cliff stepped backward, turned and in several quickstrides reached the cottage door. He swung it open, dashed in, slammedthe door. The Spaniard, baffled, said something under his breath andpaused.
Tom and Nicky promptly executed a backward movement that drew them up,side by side, before the door. Both aggressors stared and showed thatthey were baffled.
Cliff appeared at the sitting room window which he lifted.
"You just cool down until I see what is in this that you are so afraidto have me see," he exclaimed.
The Spaniard, however, seemed to have recovered. There were neighbors,perhaps some of them were watching. Whatever was to be done must be doneat the instant. He muttered something to the Indian and made a springtoward the window. He caught the lower edge before Cliff could slam itdown, gave Cliff a push. The young man stumbled back and caught his footon a chair; he saved a backward fall only by supple contortion.
At the same time Nicky and Tom sprang from the door to catch theSpaniard but found their coat collars in the powerful grip of the coppercolored one behind them. He swung them off their balance and started torun them toward the steps, backward, scratching, clawing, trying tobreak his hold.
As Cliff recovered himself, still clinging to his letter he saw the manscramble into the room. He made a fresh clutch at the envelope but Cliffsent it spinning into a corner, then felt powerful fingers grasp hisarm.
At the same time a small automobile turned into the street. Nickyshouted, "Mr. Whitley!" as Tom, fighting ferociously, tore loose fromhis captor. He made a stroke but the Indian flung them both away at thetop of the steps and vaulted the porch rail at one end with a shout asthe car brakes screamed and the tires smoked. Before the car was at astandstill its occupant, his strong face set and intent, was coming withlong strides up the path.
"Let him go," Tom called as the rescuer swerved to pursue the Indian.Tom saved Nicky a nasty fall down the steps and turned to see how Cliffwas faring, shouting to the newcomer to come with him. Nicky, catchinghis equilibrium, went with them through the cottage door.
Within, Cliff was striving to hold back while his captor, who clung toCliff as Cliff clung to him, pulled steadily and surely to where hecould reach for the letter on the floor.
Cliff felt that he must act swiftly; he heard the noise on the porch butcould not tell what had happened. He used a jui-jitsu trick taught himby a young Japanese student at Amadale, and the Spaniard, with amuttered word, crumpled for an instant; it was enough; Cliff had caughtthe letter and put the table between them by the time his adversary wasup.
He was trapped; Cliff blocked the window; three were entering the door.Nevertheless, with a final, futile snatch at the object in Cliff's hand,the Spaniard caught up a chair and sent it sidewise against the legs ofhis advancing attackers; in their scuffle and scramble he avoided them,got to the door and was gone before they could right themselves.
"Don't chase him," Cliff panted. "Thank you for coming, Mr. Whitley.Everything is all right. They wanted this letter--but they did not getit!"
They all observed one another. Mr. Whitley was the youngest instructorat Amadale; he taught history and was a great friend of Cliff. Hismethod of teaching made him popular with all the youths and boys at theAcademy. His classes were more like round-a-camp-fire gatherings, withchats and anecdotes, than like cold, matter-of-fact history lessons. Theboys all liked and respected Mr. John Whitley. He was hardly more thantwenty-four and had a companionable manner and clear honest eyes. Hissense of fairness made him mark examinations so justly that no studentever complained of favoritism.
"What is it all about?" he asked, "If that is any of my affair."
Cliff promptly began to tell about the arrival of the two men, theirstrange question followed by the coming of the letter.
And while he talked he began to make signs that were not noticeable toanyone who did not understand them. In actual fact his gestures werepart of the secret signs of an order to which the three chums hadpledged themselves. They could carry on communication that eachunderstood but without giving away to others the secrets they discussed.
Thus, when Cliff scratched his ear with the middle finger of his lefthand, he called for a secret council; when his chums folded their armsquietly it signified that they understood and that the lodge wasconvened.
Cliff talked to Mr. Whitley, told him everything up to the rescue. Inthe meanwhile he had appealed to his chums to judge the advisability ofadmitting Mr. Whitley to their secrets. Nicky, who was more excitablethan Tom, forgot that they were carrying on their communicationsecretly.
"Make him take the oath--and--and everything!" he cried.
Naturally, unaware that they had decided to accept him, Mr. Whitley wassurprised at Nicky's cry. Cliff explained.
"We have a secret order that we call The Mystery Boys!" he said, "we cantalk together by signals so no one else understands. Each one of us hasa mystery and that is why we formed the order. I don't know what becameof my father, since he went to Peru, and Tom's sister has been missingfor years, and Nicky has an old cipher in his family. These mysterieskind of drew us together and we formed ourselves into a band----"
"'The Mystery Boys!'" broke in Nicky.
"We have secret signs so that we can carry on a conversation right infront of you--as we just did while I told you some things," Cliffexplained, "you see, Mr. Whitley, we have sworn not to tell our secretsto anyone who was not under the Oath of the Oracle----'by the sacredEmblem'," he quoted, "'Seeing All, I see nothing; Knowing All, I knownothing; Telling All, I tell nothing!'"
"I don't quite see," began the mystified instructor--what this has to dowith the two men, he would have added, but Tom spoke up.
"We have decided that we need your help," he said, "we have talked itover together and we want you to know all about Cliff's mystery andadvise us--but we can't break our oath."
"Oh! That clears it all up. Very well. I am willing to help Cliff, thatis certain. If I have to promise things and join your order, I amwilling. But can we not dispense with all but the promises just now anddiscover what is in that letter?"
"Let's!" urged Cliff, "I want to see what it is."
"Well----'On the Sacred Emblem'----" Mr. Whitley, who had a good memory,repeated the oath solemnly, his hand on a curiously cut Egyptian scarab,the sacred beetle of the ancient Egyptian mysteries which Cliff producedfrom among his father's collection in a cabinet.
"Now," he added, "let's see the letter, Cliff."